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Two of country music’s most unfiltered, visionary artists —Jelly Roll and Eric Church — will close out 2025’s annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville by teaming up for an unscripted, intimate conversation.
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The event will take place on Friday, Feb. 21, as the two CMA Award-winning artists close out this year’s radio-focused seminar, which runs Feb. 19-21 at the Omni Hotel in Nashville. The annual seminar features a mix of radio and music industry-focused panels, networking events, concert, label luncheons and the annual New Faces of Country Music Showcase. (Jelly Roll was a featured performer in the New Faces of Country Music showcase in 2023, while Church was part of the showcase in 2007.)
Last year’s Country Radio Seminar featured conversations from artists including Lainey Wilson, Trisha Yearwood and Megan Moroney.
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“We are thrilled to have Eric Church and Jelly Roll close out CRS 2025,” RJ Curtis, Executive Director of CRS, said in a statement. “Their ability to connect with fans and push the boundaries of the genre makes this session a perfect culmination of this year’s seminar.”
Jelly Roll recently earned his first all-genre Billboard 200 chart-topping album with Beautifully Broken, and was nominated for entertainer of the year at the 2024 CMA Awards. Last year also saw the Antioch, Tenn., native launch his Beautifully Broken headlining arena tour and play his first international tour dates. He appeared at the Kids’ Choice Awards and on WWE, and teamed with MGK for the collaboration “Lonely Road,” as well as with Post Malone for the song “Losers” as part of Posty’s F-1 Trillion album.
Earlier this year, following the devastation of Hurricane Helene, which impacted Church’s home state of North Carolina, he released the song “Darkest Hour (Helene Edit)” and teamed with Luke Combs, Billy Strings and more to hold Concert for Carolina, a benefit concert that raised more than $24 million for hurricane relief efforts.
Bad Bunny may be a global hitmaker, but at times, he still feels like a rookie. That’s what the Puerto Rican superstar (real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe during an interview in which he spoke about his latest album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, and how he’s been reflecting on his own career and life now that he’s been in the industry for a decade.
“I’ve been reflecting about my whole life, my history, and also about my career, when I’ve been doing all these years, I’m about to turn 10 years in the industry,” he told Lowe. “And that’s f–king crazy because sometimes I feel that I’m a rookie, this is my first year! This is my first album to me.”
Debí is Bad Bunny’s sixth studio album, and it’s a celebration of Puerto Rico and the sonic heritage that has influenced his music. The 17-track album, released Sunday (Jan. 5), includes collaborative efforts with Chuwi, Dei V, Omar Courtz, Pleneros de la Cresta and RaiNao — all Puerto Rican acts. Throughout, he takes traditional Afro-Puerto Rican styles such as plena and jíbara, and fuses them with contemporary reggaetón and synths.
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During the interview, he also revealed that his favorite track is the third one on the set, titled “Baile Inolvidable,” which was recorded with young musicians from Escuela Libre de Música. “It’s a song that I have in my mind for maybe two years. The whole composition, the whole song, it was in my mind way before the song was created,” he expressed.
Benito also spoke about aging, and recalled a dark moment in his life. He shared that in his 20s, he felt depressed.
“I remember when I turned 20, I was depressed. I thought that I was I was going to die. It was the end of my life. I was, Oh, my God, I’m 20! I’m a f–king old man! I’m about to die! This is the end! I remember,” he said. “I’m just learning not to think too much and just trust in the life and God and the process and everything and enjoy the moment. But now I’m 30, people start to ask you, ‘Are you going to marry? Are you going to have kids?’ You start to think, ‘Am I wrong?’”
Check out the full interview above, in which Bad Bunny also reveals whether he’ll be touring in Europe this year.
Brandy is ready to share her life’s story. The superstar revealed via People that she is set to publish a currently untitled memoir this fall. The story will delve into her early life in Mississippi, through launching her debut self-titled album at 15 years old and the experiences she’s had throughout her acting and music […]
For Drake, his next move better be his best move. The 6 God revealed he’s back in the studio as he turns the page to a clean slate in the new year. Drizzy took to Instagram for a colorful post on Tuesday night (Jan. 7) as he got back to work while showing off his […]
From a new album to a new tour, Billboard tries to deduce what Queen Bey’s mysterious announcement will entail.
After previously flubbing a Taylor Swift question on Jeopardy!, contestant Drew Goins got smarter in the nick of time before appearing on the show again Monday (Jan. 6).
The Washington Post writer first appeared on the show in September, during which he drew a blank space at the prompt, “The first of Taylor Swift’s record 4 AOTY Grammys was for this album in 2010.”
The answer — as countless Swifties were undoubtedly screaming at their televisions in the moment — is Fearless, but in the moment, Goins simply shook his head, stumped. Four months later, the journalist reflected on the moment with host Ken Jennings.
“Yeah, so I got a Taylor Swift question wrong and went home worried that the Swifties would come rip me out of my bed at night,” Goins said on Monday’s episode. “But it turns out that the angriest Swiftie was my brother. The night before taping, he had prepared an entire practice board for me … and it was entirely Taylor Swift.”
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Jennings then joked that Goins might get his shot at redemption — and that he did. During a category titled “Albums,” the contestant stumbled on the following prompt as audience members started laughing in surprise: “In 2014, Taylor Swift gave us this album named for a different year.”
This time, Goins was ready. “What is 1989!” he cheered excitedly.
“Redemption for Drew!” the host congratulated him. “That is correct.”
The 14-time Grammy winner often inspires questions on the beloved game show, at one point lending herself to an entire board of categories in January 2024. The sections were named “Love Story,” “Our Song,” “Bad Blood,” “Shake It Off,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “The Errors Tour” at the time.
In November, Swift again popped up in a Jeopardy clue, this time alongside her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? is hosted by this man who’s maybe more famous as a bf than as a 3-time Super Bowl champ,” read the prompt, at which a contestant named Derek correctly guessed, “Who is Travis Kelce?”
Watch Goins redeem himself in the eyes of Swifties on Jeopardy! below.
Travis Barker‘s children Landon and Alabama are safe and sound amid the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles County’s Pacific Palisades. Both the rock star’s son and daughter — whom he shares with ex-wife Shanna Moakler — gave updates on Instagram Stories as wind-fueled flames rapidly traveled across parts of L.A. Tuesday night (Jan. 7). “Just […]
Mandy Moore is among the tens of thousands of Angelenos who’ve been forced to evacuate in the midst of the devastating, fast-moving wildfires that have engulfed the Los Angeles area of the past 48 hours. “Evacuated and safe with kids, dogs and cats,” the This Is Us star and “When I Wasn’t Watching” singer wrote in an Instagram Story on Wednesday (Jan. 8).
“Praying and grateful for the first responders,” she added. In a second slide of Moore with one of her three children with husband Dawes singer/guitarist Taylor Goldsmith, she wrote, “grateful for the kindness of friends that we had a place to land last night. Trying to shield the kids from the immense sadness and worry I feel. Praying for everyone in our beautiful city. So gutted for the destruction and loss. Don’t know if our place made it.”
The singer who released her seventh studio album, In Real Life, in 2022 and who scored the hits “Candy” in 1999 (No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100) and “I Wanna Be With You” in 2000 (No. 24), added a hashtag for the Eaton Fire, which according to NBC News has killed two people and burned more than 2,200 acres to date, with zero percent containment.
That fire, as well as the Palisades and Hurst fires, have burned nearly 8,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,000 homes and businesses so far. The blazes have been fed and spread by the destructive annual Santa Ana winds, which at times have whipped up to nearly 100 m.p.h., sending embers flying through the air as fire crews struggle to contain the blazes that experts say are already one of the most destructive to hit the region in recent memory.
In addition to the evacuations and homes and other structures destroyed, NBC reported that more than 300,000 Angelenos have lost power.
The Associated Press reported that in addition to Moore, the Pacific Palisades fire has displaced Star Wars icon Mark Hamill and actor James Woods in he hillside neighborhood along the coast that is home to many stars and which was name-checked in the Beach Boys’ 1963 classic “Surfin’ USA.” In a testament to the speed of the out-of-control fire, news reports featured footage of fire crews using bulldozers to clear streets littered with abandoned cars clogging the roadways, left behind by fleeing residents. Other stars who live in the area where 30,000 residents are under evacuation orders include Adam Sandler, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker’s kids, Landon and Alabama, were also forced to evacuate from their Palisades homes, while former reality TV stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag (The Hills) reported themselves safe after their Palisades home burned to the ground.
NBC also reported that Lakers coach JJ Redick said his family was evacuated from their homes on Tuesday due to the Palisades fire. In addition to a number of school closures, Universal Studios closed its park in Hollywood and Universal CityWalk and the L.A. premieres of the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man and the Blumhouse horror movie Wolf Man, as well as Jennifer Lopez’s wrestling drama Unstoppable have been cancelled; the SAG Awards also called off their in-person nominations announcement on Wednesday.
Another, smaller blaze dubbed the Tyler Fire was 100% contained at press time, with fire officials saying that at this point the causes of the various conflagrations is not yet known.
Ye — formerly Kanye West — had laid low for the first week of 2025 in his return to social media, but that changed on Tuesday night (Jan. 7), when he called out his former partner Adidas while attacking the company’s alleged search engine practices, and also took issue with designer Jerry Lorenzo in an Instagram post.
West believes when fans search for Yeezy on Google that Adidas is the first to come up before his own website, which he thinks is done intentionally to hurt his brand even though the apparel giant severed ties with him in 2022 over his repeated antisemitic remarks.
“When you google Yeezy.com the adidas site comes before the Yeezy site Members at adidas Stop doing this Stop doing your moves to hold me back Our partnership is done You’re a 60 billion dollar company that froze my accounts,” he wrote alongside a screenshot of his search results. “Now I’m back on my feet (no pun intended) and I’m not going to stand for this (no pun again) I did phenomenal work for you guys and because I stood up for myself yall tried to intimidate and oppress me everyone remembers I had major issues with adidas because of design theft and oppression before ‘the tweet.’”
Ye and Fear of God designer Lorenzo were close collaborators in the 2010s (they stopped working together in 2016), but the rapper criticized Lorenzo for continuing to work with Adidas. Fear of God teamed up with the company in 2020 for an athletic line, and the deal included the designer as creative director of Adidas Basketball.
“Y’all know Jerry was corny and disloyal for doing work with adidas after the way they handled things I still showed up to his show that was a copy of my Hollywood bowl show being the so called bigger man but I’m never doing that again for no one It’s Yeezy over everything,” Ye continued in his Instagram post of showing up to support Lorenzo at his 2023 Hollywood Bowl fashion show.
Billboard has reached out to Google for comment, as well as Adidas regarding Ye’s remarks about the the clothing company and Lorenzo.
For West, he’s done with the collaborations and those he believes are using him to create imitations of his work, as he’s “here to dominate as I always have.”
“Everyone that ever took a picture next to me that had their own clothing lines and agendas everyone knows they was acting like they were my friends to promote they weak ass fake Yeezy lines They never wanted to truly work for the king,” Ye added in his lengthy post. “They wanted to use the king Get paid more than they would get paid anywhere else be yes man and be happy for any time I didn’t accomplish what ‘we’ were working towards Now they banished NO MORE HUGS Yeezy over everything I’m not here as a platform for anyone else I am here to dominate as I always have.”
The Chicago native also said he’s sticking to his $20 price model for merchandise going forward, which he believes is “burning the game to the ground.”
After spending the first week of 2025 relaxing in the Maldives while celebrating wife Bianca Censori’s 30th birthday, it could be another busy year for Ye. He’s been teasing his Bully album, as snippets have hit social media. However, there’s still no firm release date for the project, which will serve as his Vultures 2 follow-up and first solo album since 2021’s Donda.
West and Adidas settled their longstanding litigation since the split in 2024. “Both parties said we don’t need to fight anymore and withdrew all the claims,” Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden said on October’s quarterly earnings call, before adding that neither party would be paying in the settlement. “No one owes anybody anything anymore. So whatever was is history.”
The upcoming Field & Stream Music Fest has revealed its slate of performers for the Oct. 3-5 event set for Winnsboro, S.C. Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, Riley Green, Bailey Zimmerman, Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top have top billing at the festival, which is co-produced by Field & Stream alongside key investors Church, Morgan Wallen and Southern Entertainment.
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The three-day festival will feature more than 40 artists performing on multiple stages. Alongside the headliners, the fest will feature performances from artists including Shane Smith & The Saints, Kameron Marlowe, Boy Named Banjo, Ashland Craft, David Lee Murphy, Taylor Richardson, Maddie Rean, Whey Jennings, Larry Fleet and more.
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One of the key differentiators for this upcoming fest is the number of activities it offers beyond hearing musical sets. The fest offers themed “villages,” such as the Ugly Stik Fish on America Village, which gives fishing tips and casting competitions, while the OnX Hunt Village showcases various outdoor gear and gives expert-led demonstrations. The GameWatch Football Showdown Village delivers a place for sports fans to watch games on massive screen and offers a fully stocked bar and various activities. The fest also offers excursions such as trophy fishing, archery, mountain biking and off-road tours, while the At the Field & Stream Expo will highlight interactive exhibits and showcase new outdoor innovation from top brands.
The 2025 Field & Stream lineup comes after last year’s festival (which was to be its inaugural year) was postponed due to the destruction Hurricane Helene brought to the Carolinas and other states. Last year, Church and Wallen teamed up to acquire the iconic Field & Stream brand. In addition to announcing the music festival, the acquisition also included reviving Field & Stream in print, starting the Field & Stream 1871 Club and more.
Pre-sales for the 2025 Field & Stream Music Fest launch Thursday, Jan. 9, for Field & Stream 1871 Club Members, with tickets on sale to the general public Friday, Jan. 10.
See the full lineup below:
